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by 3am-updates
Summary: Takes place after, before, and during the events of "The Device has been Modified". Read that before you read this. Includes random shenanigans that Jack and Koz get up to. Read "The Device Has Been Modified" by Lindzzz before you read this.
1. Chapter One

dThey were still on the couch thirty minutes later. Koz had pulled Jack into his lap, holding him close, fingers intertwined in soft snow white hair. Every now and then Jack's breathing would hitch, his sensory processes lagging and letting everything overwhelm him again. Koz held him close, murmuring soft nothing into his ear until he could catch up and calm down again.

They had been so close. So close to losing each other. Just a second more, and maybe Jack wouldn't have been able to transfer, wouldn't be uploaded. Wouldn't be here.  
Koz didn't want to admit how much Jack had scared him. He didn't want Jack to know, didn't want him to feel guilty. It was over now, no sense in making him feel bad.  
Of course, Jack knew exactly how scared he was, because Jack was just an asshole that knew Koz to well.  
But he was his asshole, and Stars above be damned if he was ever letting him go again. Jack wasn't going to leave again.  
They can go ahead and try. Bitches.


	2. Chapter 2

"I have to say, this is very, exciting."

Jack jumped. He knew that voice, he did! Where did he here it? He knew it, it was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't place it. He swore he knew that voice!

"The Big Four, all in one place. I'm a little star-struck." The tell-tale voice paused, continuing in a mocking tone. "Did you like my show on the globe, North? Got you all together, didn't I?"

The mockery in his voice, the know it all quality, like the voice was holding a piece of information he wanted just out of reach. Jack knew it all, he recognized it! How?

The Tooth Fairy interrupts, zooming up and threatening the voice that belongs to a man of shadows Jack can hardly see. Jack marvels at how the shadow seems unfazed, taunting her back in that voice that he knew.

He's staring, but he doesn't realize till that voice says his name. "-Jack Frost?"

He laughs, and Jack knows it. It's to cruel, to harsh, but he knows it.

Pitch pauses, catching sight of the confused frost child below him. Pitch knows that face from somewhere, that hair, those eyes. He can't place it, but it's important, and it's pestering him. He glances around, golden eyes flitting to each of the guardians. His eyes flick past the Tooth Fairy, and it clicks. The fearlings inside of him rear, trying to stop the inevitable outcome, but they've become weak. That's how he's even able to access the once buried memories. The fearlings try to stop it, but little snippets of memory rush towards him, demanding his attention, pulling at his grasp on his mind. His vision blurs, and he's pulled back into his own mindscape to watch scenes play out.

"'my name is Jack'"

"'it is like, stupid easy to hack into the 3d printer'"

"Hey so I upgraded myself and I have voice capabilities now!"

"Stop, ok just stop um, ok stop what you're doing I have the med droid on the way ok, Koz?"

"Kozmotis takes a few minutes to process the question. "No. No, robots are r-rubbish. I mean there's..." He coughs, wincing, "there are bioengineered bodies. Mostly used by the obscenely rich to give themselves a young new body to play in. It's a mix of robotic and biological, but works like a real body. I-It's v-very easy to download any system into one. Some people load AI's into them to use like a maid service." He has to pause to take a few deep breaths, biting down a sound when the shrapnel grinds against his ribs. "And fortunately for you, I have connections."

"I...wow really?"

"Promise." His breath is a soaked rasp and he can see the room blurring. "I think I'm dying." He says casually."

"Oh, that's the female needed to make a new meatbag right?"

"Why can't you say 'organic' like all the other computers?"

"I don't think it'll get easier for me."

"It wasn't hard." Jack says nastily. "Maybe they should have made the walls better."

"you're just as real as any of us."

"Did you know," he chokes out, tears in his eyes, "I failed nearly all of my programming classes when I was in school?"

"Fun fact," Jack says, and Kozmotis feels a chill of horrified dread at how pleased he sounds, "you can never fully delete anything."

"I said stop! I don't want you to! You can't make a copy of me!"

"He highlights them, feeling a bit silly, and changes the font to comic sans."

""Did you make a picture of yourself?" Kozmotis interrupts quietly."

""You know what I'd like to do now?" Kozmotis asks, voice cracked and hoarse.

"What?" Jack asks, attention focused.

"I'd very much like to hold you." Kozmotis says quietly."

"We can't BOTH last more than a day Koz!"

10%.

25%

35\. 45. 55. 65. 77. 85. 90.

95%.

"He's Jack. He has a laugh that lights everything up, he's mischievous and troublesome and can't stand being bored. He'd rather play games than look at asteroids and likes shades of blue and ridiculous glittery fonts. He worries too much and can make rash decisions. He likes action movies and lives to get reactions from everything around him. He's Jack."

"Jack it's alright, it's alright, just breathe! You're ok, just calm down alright it's me! You're here I've got you."

"I love you."

**"You can't have him, he's mine!"**

**"NO, stop!"**

**"You really like snow, don't you?"**

**"You actually downloaded more fonts?"**

**"He's not just a computer!"**

**"Kozzy?"**

**"Jack? Jack are you there?"**

**"Don't make him, please! I'll do anything, I'll be a guard, just don't make him!"**

**"Jack? How are you here?"**

**"I'm going to get you out of here, Koz, just wait, I have a plan, just hold on a little longer."**

**"Don't take him!"**

**"Koz!"**

And he's pulled back to the waking world, and the Tooth Fairy has that confused look on her face. She can't tell what's happening, but she knows he got some memories, she knows, and he couldn't care less, because Jack is right there in front of him.

"Jack!"

His Jack.

"Jack-" He's barely aware of anything else, anything but the white haired boy. The boy who knows his secrets, the boy who he spent countless years with, traveled to countless planets, galaxies, stars. The boy he fought with. The boy he loved.

Jack.

He can feel himself running, can feel tears streaming down his face. It doesn't matter, nothing matters, not the guardians, not his plans, nothing except closing the too wide distance.

He's jerked back, halted. Golden ropes of sand are around his waist and hands. They burn, burn like a thousand suns on his grey skin, but it doesn't matter because they're keeping him from Jack!

"Let me go! Let me go! I have to get to him! I have to! He's Jack! My-my Jack! Please!" His voice is broken, he can practically feel the waves of confusion coming of the guardians, but Jack just stands there, looking confused and lost.

Jack knows him, and now the cruel sneer is gone from his voice, and it's replaced with pleading. This is Pitch Black, the boogeyman, and he's supposed to be fighting him. But his voice, his voice is so familiar, and he's got a look on his face, golden eyes blown wide with longing. Jack knows him, but he's never met him, not that he can remember. It's confusing, more confusing than any of his questions that were never answered, more confusing than the blank space in his mind is, because goddammit I know him!

Sandy has caught him, in chains of dreamsand, because obviously it looked like Pitch was trying to attack, sprinting towards Jack like that. But Jack knows that wouldn't happen, because he has an instinctual feeling that the shade would never hurt him.

Jack cautiously walks forward, Tooth crying out and trying to stop him but failing because she's already weak enough that he can push her arm off and dart away from her. He stills walks towards Pitch, wanting, no needing, answers to his questions for once.

"Who are you?" His voice is quiet, bordering on whispering, but he still approaches and looks Pitch in the eye from his bonds. "How do you know me? How do I know you?"

Pitch struggles with the bonds, tugging and pulling at the burning sand. "Jack, J-jack it's me, it's Koz, it's me, don't you re-remember? It's me, we spent that year in the ship, and I got you a body, that body, your body, Jack, and S-sn-nowflakes don't you remember? We- we went to Astori-astoria, and you loved the, you loved the snow, and you-you barely felt the cold. Jack, please, snow, you gotta remember. Remember for me, remember please jack I can't do-I c-c-can't do this-" His voice breaks of into sobs, still begging, still pleading, but Jack doesn't recognize anything he says. There's a tug in his brain when Pitch says Koz, but he can't remember, and he's trying so hard. The feeling of knowing has increased though, and the knowledge is just about to pop into his brain, but something is holding it back.

The sand bonds have dissolved, and Sandy is floating off the side with a slightly confused but hopeful look on his face. His sand is moving to fast above his head for anyone to translate, but the glare he sends the other guardians tell them not to get involved well enough. Tooth flutters down, her feet barely touching the ground. Bunny's tapping his foot nervously, accidentally creating small tunnels, his fingers itching to reach for boomerangs because 'they had Pitch right there and seemingly vulnerable let's just take care of him'. North is sitting back and watching. He trusts the Sandman and his decisions, but his hand is on the sword handle and he's ready to jump in if things get out of hand. They're all about 5 meters away, watching the scene between their enemy and their newest (unofficial) recruit.

As soon as he's released, Pitch leaps from his spot and tackles Jack in a hug. It's been to long and how did he forget, his jack, how could he forget his Jack, what happened to this, what caused this?

But Jack pushes him away, because Jack doesn't know.

"Ple-please J-jack I need you to, I need you to try and remember. Remember ok, remember me and then, then it'll all be ok jack, ok? Ju-just remember, please. Please. Jack please."

"I swear, I'm trying, I just can't, I'm trying I swear! Your there, I know you are, I know you, but I don't and I'm trying!"

"Jack, jack it's ok, it's ok. I'm-I'm going to try something, alright, snow? I'm gonna try something, and I'm going to hate it, but I'm going to try, ok? Ok, Jack?"

Jack hesitates, looking at the owner of the golden eyes that he recognizes. He shouldn't trust him, this is the guy they're supposed to be fighting, right? Right? But his voice is pleading with him, and he knows it, and he still has the feeling that hell would freeze over before this guy hurt him. * He muttered an ok, and Pitch takes a deep breath steadying himself because oh god he's going to hate this.

"Computer, run diagnosis of memory database and storage."

Jack feels his body stiffen, and something inside of him is moving, whirring, coming to life after being asleep. He can't move, and he starts to panic, but Pitch's words come back to him mind, and he suddenly has to follow the order given. Why? He didn't know. There's a feeling seizing him, and his mind suddenly, all to suddenly, stops for a second. He's shoved to the side, like he's watching from the sidelines in his own mindscape. Multiple images pop up, almost like millions of computer monitors flaring into existence. His brain is on auto-function, zooming in and focusing on a select few images, scrolling through lines and lines of code. He's watching, and suddenly he's not anymore. Suddenly he's the one looking through all the screens, all the images. It comes like instinct to him, and he's searching for something, and-

And there it is! It's a large file, almost too big to be in existence. He pities the people who made the tech to fit it, because dam it's huge. He 'clicks' on it, again driven by pure instinct, but then suddenly a warning flashes in his vision, blocking the screen and all content.

He feels his mouth moving before he even begins to know what to say. His voice sounds wrong, with monotone and almost robotic qualities to it.

"Warning, file content blocked. Firewall secure. Would you like to continue?"

He almost shakes his head in disgust, puts stops the ridiculous notion before he completes the action. He pulls the 'screen' down, and he can see Pitch again.

There's tears in his eyes, tears streaming down his face. Pitch thought he would never have to hear that voice again out of Jack's mouth, never have to see that blank look on his face again. He thought he had prepared himself, but the blankness of it all brought a sudden spike of fear throughout his body, causing one of his nightmares waiting in the shadows to come out and investigate. The irony.

His voice wavers as he says the next command.

"Computer" Oh how he hated using that word for Jack. "Access blocked content."

And Jack is pulling back up the screen, acting upon the command. The firewall blocks him, and he finds himself smirking to himself. He somehow knows he can do this. No matter how secure, he finds himself feeling he can hack it.

His fingers itch and tap as if they want to type out something. It's instinctual, like most of the last five minutes. He doesn't know where to start, so he lets his instincts take over, and begins typing the first line of code.

The firewall is harder to hack then he originally thought. It could be the fact that he, as Jack Frost, has never actually done this before.

Oh well. The firewall is broken within five minutes anyways.

And the content that was blocked?

Wow.

Memories of everything come back to him. The ship, the annoying rabbit, the pirates, the asteroid belt(he found himself wincing at the memory), the feeling of being trapped, the sensory overload of waking up, the asshole people who had poked at him, the trips to planets with Koz, the first snowball fight in existence(He was proud to say he started that), the war, and-and when Koz was taken away.

He saw himself, sneaking into the prison. It had been stupidly easy. He tried to save Koz, but-but he was too late.

He got there too late, and Koz was taken over by fearlings.

He saw the council of celestial beings, saw himself in their throne room. Saw them making plans. Send it to Earth, they said. Let it into a human family, they said. We'll see if it has feeling for ourselves, they said.

He saw them changing his hair. His eyes. His body that he had designed himself.

And then they sent him away.

He got to his human family, his memory disc wiped, his internet access restricted. And the rest is history.

And he exits the file, saving it in a remote location, throwing up half a million walls in a millisecond. His vision clears, and he's crying, he can feel the water freezing on his face, and he can see Pitch staring at him.

Pitch is watching him with bated breath, a kind of hope that he wants to deny sparking in his eyes. "J-jack?"

And Jack is in Pitch's arms, and they're sliding down to the floor, collapsing in a pile of limbs. They're clutching at each other, wanting to know that their real, they're here, they're together.

They don't pull back until Tooth's worried hand touches Jack's back, worried and confused. He pulls back from her, flinching away and almost hissing. He calms slightly when he sees the fairy pull back. His face is coated in the ice of his tears, droplets frozen on his eyelashes, cheeks, chin, clothes. He's trembling, and clutching Koz like a lifeline.

Koz because he couldn't exactly be called Pitch right now.

The gray color of his skin is melting away, going back to tan. His hair is getting less spiky, his eyes leaving behind the poisonous yellow tint they had. They're liquid pools of gold, and they're staring straight at Jack, not caring as shark teeth return to normal, as shadow robes melt off.

This isn't Pitch Black, this is Kozmotis Pitchiner. Kozmotis.

Koz.

And he is hugging Jack. Not Jack Frost, not Jackson Overland, just Jack.

Sandy reels Tooth back in with a rope of dreamsand and puts another one over the other guardians.

He makes a sign of a shushing finger, then a pair of eyes, then two figures hugging.

Shh. Watch the reunion.

And so, the guardians watch. Watch the two figures hug, watching even still as Jack pulls back and cries harder.

"Shh." Koz comforts, running a shaky thumb under his eye to catch the tears before they froze. "It's ok, it's fine, we've-we've got each other now."

Jack still sobs. "It's not! I didn't get there, I didn't save you, I was to late! Years of hacking, years of breaking into things, and I was still too late!"

"It's ok, we're gonna be fine. It's ok, snow, we've got this. It isn't your fault, it never was, ok? Snow, I opened the door, and that wasn't my fault. It's the armies fault Jack, ok? Not yours, not mine, theirs. But their gone, and they can't bother us now, and we can go, ok? We can build a ship. We can build one to get to Galizar, and then we'll get proper materials, and we'll make our own house in a good ship, and then we'll travel, ok? We'll go anywhere we want. We can, Jack, we can do this, we can do this together."

Jack mumbles a shaky 'ok' and buries his head in Koz's chest.

"Hey Koz?" he mutters, the sound muffled in the generals tattered, torn shirt, nearly ten minutes of half broken sobs later.

"Yea, Snow?"

"Don't ever do that to me again, you asshole of a meatbag."

"Don't worry, Jack." He mutters into his hair. "I will never let them take us apart again."

The Guardians don't ask who "them" is, even among their hundreds of questions later at the Pole.


	3. Chapter 3

Jack had somehow gotten it into his head that snow was awesome, even though he had never seen it before. Why, Koz had no idea. Snow was cold and had no purpose, and the cold was miserable.

"Pleaaaaaaaaaaaseeee?" Jack begged for the fiftieth time.

"Jack. Snow is cold. And wet. And nothing else. A trip would be worthless."

"No, it wouldn't! Jena is only five para's away! It would only take an hour round trip!"

Koz face-palmed. "Jack, no. I've got work to do."

Jack is quiet, so maybe Koz has won, but then Jack's face suddenly appears instead of his computer screen. Jack darted in a pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, a bribe.

"Please, Kozzy? I just want to experience it."

Thirty minutes later, Koz would blame it on the puppy dog face that Jack had perfected.

They were standing in the freezing cold, the ship parked and melting snow with its warm metal. "Ok, there you go. Cold, snow, and cold. Can we go back now?"

"Nope!" Jack says cheerfully. He doesn't seem cold in the slightest, and Koz realizes that it's probably his internal processes generating heat. The little turd. "Come on, we gotta explore first!"

Jack drags him through the snow for nearly twenty minutes. He touches everything, the icicles, the delicate frost covering dead looking bushes covered in shriveled up berries, the two-foot-deep snow covering the ground.

"What's that?" Jack said, pointing towards a shining splotch of shimmering ice in the distance. "Let's go there!"

When they get there, Jack studies the ice, stomping at the edge of the frozen lake before running out onto it, slipping and falling twice before finding his balance.

"Jack! What are you doing!?"

"Come on, worrywart! It'll be fun. Besides-"He gets that mischievous smirk again, and Koz feels dread build up in his stomach. "-I can't get back now."

He groans as he slides out to where Jack is. He grabs him by the hand and tries to drag him back to the snowbank, but Jack swings around and grabs his other hand, skating backwards and dragging Koz with him.

"What are you doing?!" He doesn't shriek out the words, what are you talking about.

"It's called skating. Isn't it great?"

"Where did you learn this?" Koz is nearly dragged down when Jack slips.

Jack grins at him, letting go of his hands and sliding away. "I made it up."

"How-"

"Shh. I have my ways. Now skate."

Jack learns how to glide across the lake long before Koz does, and by the time Koz can make it from one side to the other, he's trying to spin around and do tricks. Koz scolds him and tells him he'll fall, but Jack just fake pouts and keeps attempting the trick.

Koz can eventually keep up with Jack after an hour of falling. Well, before something hits him on the back and knocks him down. He sputters, spinning around to see the object that caused his demise. He sees Jack grinning like an idiot and a small pile of snow powder on the ice.

He sighs and pulls himself up. "What did you do now?"

Jack smirks at him, kneeling down at the bank and scooping up a handful of snow. "They're called snowballs. You're supposed to throw them at each other. I invented them."

"And how did you do that?" Koz is slowly inching towards the bank.

Jack is oblivious. "I fell in the snow, and it sorta packed together so I grabbed a handful and mushed it together. And then I threw it at you."

Ah, poor, poor, oblivious, naïve Jack. Giving away the secrets to his own demise. Koz grins to himself as he 'mushes' the snow together.

The snowball catches Jack by surprise, hitting him in the chest and causing him to fall on his butt. He sputters and looks down at his own invention that had betrayed him, then looks up and mock glares at Koz.

"It is on."

Fuck. What has he done.

Apparently, snow is really comfortable.

At least, it is when your tired, over-exerted, and to worked up to notice the cold.

And when you want to cuddle. Yea, that was definitely a plus.

They were both half-asleep when something prods at each of their sides. It's sharp and presses into their sides hard enough to make them wide awake. They both snap up and stare at the weapon now pointed at their faces.

The things holding the now-recognized icicles are short. Really short. Like two-feet-tall short. Honestly, how they weren't buried in snow was a mystery.

The things had pointed faces, and their white feathers and hair blended into the background almost seamlessly. Silver eyes bore into Jack and Koz's heads, seemingly peering into their souls. But the most eye-catching thing about them was the white silk wings that flowed out of the thing's backs like sheets of fragile paper catching in the winds.

"Jack," Koz hisses, "Any info?"

"Hold up, I'm searching."

Six more creatures emerge from their hiding spots in the snow. They all point their icicles at the pair, glaring at them. Koz and Jack are forced up to their feet, the creatures watching their every move carefully.

"Got it!" Jack suddenly says, eyes going back into focus. "They're frostwings, usually hostile creatures that are native to Jela. Apparently, they're very rare. Lucky us."

"Anything useful?"

"The page doesn't have anything useful. Wait… they apparently understand a small bit of English."

"Well, that's great. Want to give it a go, or should I?"

"Nah, I'll talk. I'm a better people person." Jack stuck his tongue out at Koz.

Koz grumbles as Jack crouches down in the snow so that he's eye level with the creature, keeping his movements slow, his hands in plain sight.

"Hello." He says, and the creature tilts its head towards the right and it's long, feathery ears twitch. "We come from another planet. We're very sorry for trespassing, and we'll leave right away if you let us go."

It was amazing how calm Jack was, facing a being he knew close to nothing about and that had him defenseless. But that was Jack for you. Full of surprises, surprisingly calm in strange situations, extremely tactical in others, childlike in the right circumstances, and an all around trouble-maker. It was one of the reasons why Koz loved him.

"Tresss-pas." One of the little creatures repeated. "No. Bad trespass."

"Err… Yes. Bad. We're very sorry, we'll just be going now." Jack's eye's dart to the left, where the fewest creatures are, obviously planning an escape. But before they can plan anything, the creatures mumble to each other, gasp, and drop their icicles. They all kneel on the ground, heads bowed and silken wings temporarily stilling.

"Blue eyes. Blue eyes!" They exclaim excitedly. Two of them pick up their weapons and move over to Koz, still pointing them at him. But the others swarmed Jack, lifting him up above their heads and ears with long, thin limbs. He's carried up, completely suspended, and noises of protest escape him.

"The hell?" He finally manages out. But the creatures ignore him and start marching out, Koz with back being prodded at with the sharpened points of the ice.

Their protests are drowned out and ignored as the creatures half march, half glide on bursts of wind, Jack still being carried. They are taken through the snow which is kicking up in a blizzard and making them both colder. When Jack starts shivering, the creatures glance at each other before huddling together around and covering him with their white wings until their satisfied. Unfortunately, the same luxury is not awarded to Koz. Even so, Koz is grateful when Jack manages to get the simple technology in his coat to turn up the heat, even a smidgen.

Finally, they arrive at where they're supposedly going after a near hour of the blistering cold. It's a mound of snow that's larger than the piles of snow drifts that litter the landscape, and upon further inspection, there is a small entrance about three feet tall with two creatures guarding it. They're ushered through the little hole, the little creatures murmuring "sorry, sorry" to Jack as they gently push him through and shoving Koz through.

They emerge in a large, open room, made like an igloo with the packed down snow. There is a mound of soft, fluffy snow near the back of the room in the center. On top of it sits another creature, just a bit taller than the others, with shining blue eyes and thin, torn-at-the-edges wings. It looks at the new comers and whispers to a creature at it's right.

"Blue eyes, Blue eyes! Found! In snow! Blue eyes!" The creatures who have once again surrounded Jack chant, staring at him with adoration in their eyes.

The creature on the mound gasps, jumping down and drifting to where Jack was dumped. His teeth are chattering, and Koz really just wants to go over there and hug him until he gets warm. Actually, he wants to go to the ship and have some coffee and get warmer while chiding Jack saying, "I told you this was a bad idea."

Though it was kind of both of theirs. He really should have brought a weapon, but it was supposed to be a quick in and out type of thing. Still, he should have known better. Always be prepared, right? There goes that rule.

"K-koz?" Jack asks, and the severe chattering of his teeth makes him seem like he's stuttering. To be honest, Koz isn't much warmer, but Jack has it worse, since his processes are probably getting slowed down by the cold. "W-w-w-what-t's t-the p-pl-p-plan?" Yea, his processes are definitely being slowed down. Shit.

"Umm." There's a knife in his back pocket, but he can't reach it, and it probably wouldn't even hurt the frostwings, even if it was an actual weapon. How could he have been so stupid? Now they were paying the price, as hostages in a freezing wasteland. "Hold on, we'll figure something out.

The queen was still staring at them. She raised a spindle finger and pointed at Jack. "Blue eyes…cold? Hatchling?"

The creatures glanced at each other. "Not sure."

"Treat. Fix blue eyes."

The frostwings grin, thin lips twisting into eager upward curves. Their faces all turn towards Jack. They carry him towards the queen, wrapping him in their wings again and bundling him up in a thick layer, leaving only his face and a tuft of white hair. He looks like an oversized bundled baby, and Koz chokes on a laugh despite the seriousness of the situation. He earns a glare from Jack.

Jack's carried towards the queen, and another frostwing runs up to the queen, presenting her with a bowl of ice, filled with purple juice on the verge of frosting other. She accepts the bowl and nods her head towards the frostwing. It backs up, bowing gracefully.

Jack is set into her lap, the wings bundled around him unfurling. The chattering in his teeth is slowed, but still present. The queen looks down at him with fondness in her big crystalline eyes. She makes cooing noises, as if trying to calm him down, but it (obviously) doesn't have an effect as Jack tries to squirm away. For such a small thing (The queen is, after all, only a few inches taller than the rest of the frostwings) she is surprisingly strong and holds him securely in her lap with one arm. The other arm carries the bowl towards Jack's face.

Koz, meanwhile, is planning how to get out of his current situation. The ice shackles on his wrist have melted due to his body heat, but they're still to thick to break. Give it another 5 minutes, maybe… But they didn't have 5 minutes, because the queen was trying to force Jack to drink out of the bowl. To his credit, he's struggling, but frostwings have come and grabbed his limbs to keep him still. His head is tilted up.

A frown appears on the queen's face as Jack presses his lips shut. "Silly hatchling. Cold blue eyes drink. No cold then." She pinches lightly on his nose, just enough so that he'll be forced to breathe through his mouth. For his part, Jack holds his breath for an entire minute and a half before finally gasping for breath.

Koz starts to struggle, trying to break the ice prematurely, as the queen tilts the bowl's contents into Jack's mouth. The pale purple juice is spilled into his mouth, some splashing into his hair and staining a section of it.

Of course, this is when the ice breaks. Koz bends and kicks the frostwings trying to subdue him in the back of the head. They collapse to the ground, ears twitching. Koz rushes towards Jack, who is still caught in the queens embrace. Jack sputters and breathes heavily, recovering from having something shoved down his throat. But the queen is distracted, and Jack takes full advantage of that, leaping out of her lap and slipping on the ice. Koz spins around, and they start running out.

They push past multiple creatures, their lightweight bodies easily giving way to the two. They manage to make it out of the dome like igloo, and start sprinting through the barely visible footprints in the snow, running back towards the ship. They make it a good five meters before the frostwings are on their tail. The creatures are faster then them, with their wings that catch the wind. Still, Koz and Jack have better muscles and better endurance.

The ship is just in sight when the frostwings catch up enough to grab Jack in one of their silky wings. Koz doesn't notice for about five seconds before he realizes that Jack isn't next to him. Jack struggles again, but after running for so long, he's exhausted and looks ready to collapse. Of course. Koz just realizes that he's spent a lot more time training his body than Jack has. So like Jack to not say anything. Then again, it was a do or die situation.

It's almost hopeless, but still Koz slips the knife out of the inner pocket, waving it threateningly at the creatures. Koz inches slowly forward, aware that the longer he takes the more bonds they can get on Jack, but still needing to make a plan. Before he can even get close enough to touch the nearest frostwing, there's a gust of strong wind, catching all the wings of frostwings as they struggle to remain on the ground.

The next thing they knew, Jack was in the air. It was a spit second thing, but the wind pushes his body towards Koz and they don't think twice.

They run.

The frostwings are still trying to remain grounded. Downside of relying on the wind to fly.

Koz and Jack are able to make it to the ship before the frostwings get steady again. The ship is started, thanks to something Jack did, Koz doesn't really care right now. They are up in the air even before the door closes, and before it shuts closed, Jack yells a quick thank you out.

Koz almost asks him why, but he's to busy with the "I told you so! But you never listen! I told you it was a bad idea!" scolding statements.

It doesn't leave his mind though.


End file.
